It was an interesting weekend of action in matchweek 26 in La Liga as the title race continued to heat up, Sevilla dropped points in their pursuit of Champion’s League football and Huesca vs Celta Vigo provided on the scoresheet.
Valencia hosted Villareal at the Mestalla for the weekend’s first action and it was an entertaining game featuring two rather mystifying VAR decisions, leading to penalties for either side. José Gayà was adjudged to have handled inside the area near the end of the first half and Gerard Moreno duly dispatched the resultant spot-kick, his 15th goal of the campaign. Jasper Cillessen was immense in goal for Los murciélagos, denying Paco Alcácer and Moreno on his way to a player of the match award. Another dubious but much clearer penalty was then awarded to Valencia and Carlos Soler dispatched it with ease. Valencia were dominating at this point and their pressure paid dividends as Christian Oliva played in Gonçalo Guedes who hammered a shot into the far corner from the left hand side of the box to seal the three points.
Saturday’s early kick off saw Real Valladolid win their first game in nine against Getafe. A mixture of nice build up and poor marking saw Óscar Plano nod home from the centre of the box after Fabián Orellana headed a deep cross back across goal. This goal was against the run of play and soon Orellana was in the thick of things again, his cross was parried to Shon Weissman who grabbed his fourth goal of the season off the crossbar. Former Valladolid favourite Jaime Mata then grabbed one back after 37 minutes but it was not enough to get Getafe back into the game and they ended the game with 10-men as Mata lashed out late on. Getafe now sit 15th, just two points ahead of Valladolid.
Next up were European football chasing Sevilla who lost to Elche, a result that sees the former climb out of the relegation battle. A late goal from Luuk de Jong was not enough to cancel out Elche’s quickfire duo of goals from Raúl Guti and Guido Carrillo.
Cádiz and Eibar saw a goal apiece ruled out before Álvaro Negredo opened the scoring, arriving late at the back post to give Cadiz a 1-0 victory despite the Eibar goalkeeper Marko Dmitrović having a chance to square things up from the penalty spot.
Saturday evening saw Barcelona do their title hopes no harm with an ultimately comfortable win against a spirited Osasuna side. Barca predictably dominated possession with Frenkie De Jong and Sergio Busquets controlling the base of the midfield pivot. It took a moment of genius from Lionel Messi to break the deadlock, his pinpoint pass smashed into the roof of the net by Jordi Alba. Half-time saw Ousmane Dembélé replace Samuel Umtiti and his impact was instant, running at defenders and dragging them out of position. The game was finished late on as Osasuna lost out in midfield, gifting the ball to Messi in space, who teed up 18 year old Ilaix Moriba to calmly score his first La Liga goal.
The game of the weekend played out at Huesca, with seven goals shared by the home team and visitors Celta Vigo. It was always going to be a long day for both defences when Santi Mina got on the end of a long ball forward and clinically slotted past Álvaro Fernandez after five minutes. Ten minutes later and Huesca were celebrating the equaliser as Dimitrios Siovas converted a near post cross. Just two minutes passed before Huesca took the lead, Rafa Mir sprinting down the right channel and emphatically finishing into the top left corner. On the 37 minute mark Celta drew level again as former Manchester City man Nolito cleverly tucked home a volley on the rebound. It was clear that the scoring was not finished here as soon after the break Hugo Malla thumped home a header from a corner to make it 3-2 to the visitors. Recently awarded with a new Huesca contract David Ferreiro was not to be left out, making it 3-3 unmarked from 10 yards. Unfortunately for Huesca they remain bottom after Fran Beltrán’s composed strike made it 4-3 to Celta and there was to be no reply.
After the excitement at Huesca, it was time for the most anticipated match of the weekend, the Madrid derby at the Metropolitano. Diego Simeone had the boost of Kieran Trippier’s return from suspension to return on the right, with João Félix dropping to the bench, hinting at a more conservative lineup. Early on, Real bided their time, playing exquisite triangles around the Atletico box, but rarely threatening, Atletico pouncing on any loose ball to counter. The goal came through Luis Suarez who, after being slipped in by Marcos Llorente, opened up his body to curl a right-footed finish with the outside of his boot into the far left corner. The Atleti press continued to cause problems for Real but wonderful saves from Thibeau Courtois from Suarez and Yannick Carrasco kept Real in the hunt. At the other end Jan Oblak saved brilliantly twice from Karim Benzema who was soon set through by Vinícius Júnior to tie things up in the 88th minute. Atleti once again will rue missed chances as they let Los Blancos claw back a point.
Real Sociedad saw out a 1-0 victory over Levante, Mikel Oyarzabal laying a centre on for Mikel Merino to score the only goal of a game that could have ended much worse for Levante. Sociedad’s Xg finished up at more than 5.5 in a game in which more clinical finishing could have seen them significantly boost their already impressive goal difference. They remain three points clear of Betis in 6th.
A slightly bizarre game played out between Athletic Bilbao and Granada on Sunday night. Bilbao scored the opener after three minutes, with Asier Villalibre slotting home on the turn from Oihan Sancet’s incisive ball. Thereafter Granada looked the better team but Bilbao looked the more threatening on the break. Both teams were much changed from midweek, with Bilbao’s cup run leading to more tired legs, midway through the second half Raúl Garcia was introduced and had an opportunity to take the game away from Granada from the spot but spurned the chance. Soon after Jorge Molina made Bilbao pay with a back post header to tie the game up. In a game that did not deserve such a goal, Alex Berenguer, fresh from his cup heroics midweek, latched onto a loose ball and thundered it in off a stunned Rui Silva to give Bilbao the win in extra time.
The final game of matchweek 26 saw Betis come from two goals behind to beat struggling Deportivo Alavés in what proved to be a microcosm of Betis’ season so far, los Verdiblancos are infamously inconsistent, drawing just three games so far. Former Newcastle United man Joselu opened the scoring by hammering a freekick through a conspicuous gap in the wall and ten minutes later Alavés doubled their lead, Edgar Mendez heading home after a slip from Betis left-back Juan Miranda Gonzalez. Betis then laid siege to the Alavés goal, Nabil Fekir playing excellently, receiving the ball on the half-turn in space and causing problems. It looked like becoming a frustrating evening for Betis until Fekir was chopped down in the box, Borja Iglesias – off the bench and returning from injury – sent Fernando Pacheco the wrong way from the spot. 20 minutes later, after wasting several chances and messing around on the edge of the box, a Sergio Canales corner was met by veteran winger Joaquin and finally Betis were level. Alavés, who had been defending with nine behind the ball for most of the match looked desperately to hang on to their lead but in the 88th minute, Iglesias was found by an excellent Emerson cross and he turned home the winner.
Michael Vince on Sport 